Updating a value of a Jlabel using setext is resetting the Jframe

Question

Im making a game for class, I made a panel to display certain scores however, when it is updated using the update methods of the class which is just setext("" newscore), it resets the frame to the start with default position, before moving them with methods. This also happens if i just add a jlabel to the maainpanel and try to update it with button inputs. I want to know why this is happening since it seems like it is in a loop even if you press the correct button. main code

package ddr.view;

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

import ddr.ScreenObserver;
import ddr.gameObserver;
import ddr.model.Game;

public class GameplayGUI implements KeyListener, gameObserver { //UI during gameplay
    JFrame frame2;
    ImagePanel mainPanel;

    JPanel arrowsPanel;
    JPanel space1;
    JPanel space2;
    JPanel space3;
    JPanel space4;

    JLabel right;
    ImageIcon rights;
    JLabel left;
    ImageIcon lefts;
    JLabel up;
    ImageIcon ups;
    JLabel down;
    ImageIcon downs;

    JLabel back;
    ImageIcon backs;

    JPanel gridArrows;
    JPanel spawnpoint;

    ImageIcon leftIcon;
    ImageIcon downIcon;
    ImageIcon upIcon;
    ImageIcon rightIcon;

    JLabel leftMove;
    JLabel downMove;
    JLabel upMove;
    JLabel rightMove;

    int bottom_row = 450;
    scores_panel score;

    Game gamerGame;
    ScreenObserver controller;

    int scorex;
    int scorey;
    
    private Timer leftTimer, downTimer, upTimer, rightTimer;
    public GameplayGUI(ScreenObserver screen, Game game)
    { //javaswing constructor
        frame2 = new JFrame("Gameplay"); 
        frame2.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        backs = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("game_background.png"));
        mainPanel = new ImagePanel(backs);
        mainPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER,30,0));
        mainPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(700,500));
        frame2.addKeyListener(this);
        spawnpoint = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER,30,0)); 
        spawnpoint.setOpaque(false);
        int stepSize =2;
        //creating moving arrows and adding them to main panel
        leftIcon = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("left.gif"));
        leftMove = new JLabel(leftIcon);
        downIcon = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("down.gif"));
        downMove = new JLabel(downIcon);
        upIcon = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("up.gif"));
        upMove = new JLabel(upIcon);
        rightIcon = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("right.gif"));
        rightMove = new JLabel(rightIcon);
        

        mainPanel.add(leftMove);
        mainPanel.add(downMove);
        mainPanel.add(upMove);
        mainPanel.add(rightMove);
        
        score = new scores_panel();
        mainPanel.add(score);
        
        //making the arrow receptors panel and adding it to a grid
        arrowsPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER,30,0));
        arrowsPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(700,100));
        arrowsPanel.setBackground(Color.gray);
        arrowsPanel.setOpaque(false);
        space1 = new JPanel();
        space2 = new JPanel();
        space3 = new JPanel();
        space4 = new JPanel();
        space1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(233,135));
        space2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(233,135));
        space1.setOpaque(false);
        space2.setOpaque(false);

        gridArrows = new JPanel(new GridLayout(5, 1));
        gridArrows.setOpaque(false);
        gridArrows.add(space1);
       gridArrows.add(space2);
        gridArrows.add(arrowsPanel);

        mainPanel.add(gridArrows);
        frame2.add(mainPanel);

        lefts = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("leftarrow.png"));
        left = new JLabel(lefts);
        arrowsPanel.add(left);

        downs = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("downarrow.png"));
        down = new JLabel(downs);
        arrowsPanel.add(down);

        ups = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("uparrow.png"));
        up = new JLabel(ups);
        arrowsPanel.add(up);

        rights = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("rightarrow.png"));
        right = new JLabel(rights);
        arrowsPanel.add(right);

        frame2.pack();
        frame2.setVisible(true);
        frame2.setResizable(false);

        leftTimer = new Timer(20, new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                leftMove.setLocation(leftMove.getX(), leftMove.getY() + stepSize);
                if (leftMove.getY() > 460){
                    System.out.println("booo");
                }

            }
        });

        downTimer = new Timer(40, new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                downMove.setLocation(downMove.getX(), downMove.getY() + stepSize);
            }
        });

        upTimer = new Timer(60, new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                upMove.setLocation(upMove.getX(), upMove.getY() + stepSize);
            }
        });

        rightTimer = new Timer(80, new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                rightMove.setLocation(rightMove.getX(), rightMove.getY() + stepSize);
            }});
            rightTimer.start();
            leftTimer.start();
            upTimer.start();
            downTimer.start();
        
        gamerGame = game;
        controller = screen;
    }
    
    public void disable()
    {
        frame2.setVisible(false);
        frame2.setEnabled(false);
        leftTimer.stop();
        downTimer.stop();
        upTimer.stop();
        rightTimer.stop();
    }

    public void enable()
    {
        frame2.setVisible(true);
        frame2.setEnabled(true);
            rightTimer.start();
            leftTimer.start();
            upTimer.start();
            downTimer.start();
    }
    
    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) 
    {   // +420 immediatly goes to bottom arrows
        int stepSize = 10;
        //System.out.println("here");
        if(e.getKeyCode()== KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT)
        {
            //System.out.println("right");
            rightMove.setLocation(rightMove.getX(), rightMove.getY() + stepSize);
        }
        else if(e.getKeyCode()== KeyEvent.VK_LEFT)
        {
            //System.out.println("left");
            leftMove.setLocation(leftMove.getX(), leftMove.getY() + stepSize);
            if (leftMove.getY() > 400 && leftMove.getY() < 450) {
                System.out.println("aahhhhh");
                controller.press(1);

            }
            
        }
        else if(e.getKeyCode()== KeyEvent.VK_UP)
        {
            //System.out.println("up");
            upMove.setLocation(upMove.getX(), upMove.getY() + stepSize);
        }
        else if(e.getKeyCode()== KeyEvent.VK_DOWN)
        {
            //System.out.println("down");
            downMove.setLocation(downMove.getX(), downMove.getY() + stepSize);
        }
    }
    
    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
    }

    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
    }

    public void set_start(){
        leftMove.setLocation(left.getX(),-50);
        rightMove.setLocation(right.getX(),-50);
        upMove.setLocation(up.getX(),-50);
        downMove.setLocation(down.getX(),-50);
        score.setLocation(downMove.getX()+50,200);
        scorex = score.getX();
        scorey = score.getY();
    }

    @Override
    public void update(){
        score.score_update(gamerGame.getScore());
        score.combo_update(gamerGame.getCurrentCombo());
        score.setLocation(scorex, scorey);
        score.setLocation(scorex, scorey);


    }

}
    

scores_panel

package ddr.view;

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.GridLayout;

import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class scores_panel extends JPanel {
    JLabel comboJLabel;
    JLabel scoreLabel;
    JLabel missJLabel;
    int score;
    int combo;

    public scores_panel() {
        setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 1,0,5));
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 150));


        score = 0;
        combo = 0;
        scoreLabel = new JLabel(score +" score");
        comboJLabel = new JLabel(combo + " combo");


        Font scoreFont = new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 20);
        scoreLabel.setFont(scoreFont);

        Font comboFont = new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 50);
        comboJLabel.setFont(comboFont);

        add(scoreLabel);
        add(comboJLabel);

        setOpaque(false);
        scoreLabel.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        scoreLabel.setOpaque(false);
        comboJLabel.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        comboJLabel.setOpaque(false);
    }

    public void score_update(int num){
        score = num;
        scoreLabel.setText(score + " score");
        this.revalidate();
        this.repaint();
    }
    public void combo_update(int num){
        combo = num;
        comboJLabel.setText(combo + " combo");
                this.revalidate();
        this.repaint();
    }

}

I tried to use buttons to see if it was just label, it was not, I also made a new panel for the score panel to go in just to check if it was just reseting things in the mainpanel

Answer 1

I think I'm getting what you intended to do. I encountered this as well in frames and panels a long time ago. This can be easily done in MVC approach. Since you instantiated everything with default values in a parent frame or panel, no matter what you do in the child frame won't get updated if you call it from inside. You need to update the parent frame with revalidate and repaint methods, not the child. This is how it's done in frames and panels: Try it in a separate test scenario.

parent.add(child); parent.setViewportView(child); parent.revalidate(); parent.repaint();